About the Guests

Hari-kirtana das is a yoga teacher, spiritual mentor, and author. He's been practicing devotional yoga and various other yogic disciplines for the better part of the last 50 years, has lived in yoga ashrams and intentional spiritual communities, and has a talent for making complex ideas about spiritual philosophy easy to understand. 

Kenneth Rose, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, and professor of philosophy and religion. As a scholar-practitioner, he specializes in comparative religion, comparative mysticism, and spirituality.

Trish Tillman is a history professor and yoga teacher in the Washington, DC area. She holds a Ph.D. in History from the Catholic University of America and teaches at the University of Maryland - Global Campus. Trish has been steadily involved in the study and practice of Bhakti yoga, via her teacher, Hari-kirtana das. 

Stephanie Corigliano is the editor for Tarka at Embodied Philosophy. She works as a lecturer in the Religious Studies department at Cal Poly, Humboldt. Stephanie holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Theology from Boston College University and an MA in Theology from Loyola Marymount University.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. The concept and role of the guru in present-day spheres of yoga and academia.
2. The overlaps and differences between guru and teacher.
3. What the yogic tradition has to say about the qualifications of a guru and misconceptions about the role.
4. The emergence of scholar-practitioners in academic religious studies and its impact.
5. Why the guru role is still relevant. 
6. The debate over female gurus within the Hare Krishnas in the West as a microcosm of the larger debate over female gurus and spiritual authorities.
7. How the guru role may evolve in our unbounded, modern time.

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In this episode, author and Embodied Philosophy faculty, Andrew Holecek, is in conversation with Stephanie Corigliano and Jacob Kyle, as they discuss Andrew’s article, “Is the West Ready for Tantra?” an article released in the latest issue of Tarka.  Explore the latest Tarka issue here.

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In this episode of the Tarka Journal Podcast, Stephanie and Jacob speak to colleague and friend, Marcy Braverman Goldstein about an article she wrote for the Scholar-Practitioner Issue of Tarka, titled "Is Academia (Like) a Religion?" Marcy challenges the ideological conformity of modern academia and encourages a new space of intellectual activity outside the modern university. 

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Stephanie and Jacob are joined by Tarka Journal Art Director Ryan Lamere to discuss why art is so important to Tarka. We also discuss the relationship between creativity and spiritual practice, some of the history behind the art in Tarka, as well as sharing some of the challenges we've encountered along the way.

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In the second episode, we go behind the scenes of the existing Tarka Journal issues. We talk about the scholar-practitioner, bhakti, illusion, ecology, queer dharma, virtual reality, death and much more, never mincing words as we pontificate wildly about current personal and cultural concerns that inspire the Tarka Journal Project.

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Welcome to the first episode of the Tarka Journal Podcast. In this podcast, Stephanie Corigliano, Editor-in-Chief of the Tarka Journal and Jacob Kyle, Editorial Director of Embodied Philosophy, will be having conversations with each other and other faculty and friends of Embodied Philosophy about topics and issues from the worlds of yoga philosophy, contemplative studies, and religious and dharma studies. Many of our conversations are inspired by themes we’re exploring in the Tarka Journal as they relate to the experience of the scholar-practitioner. 

In our first episode, Stephanie and Jacob talk about the why behind Tarka, what the intentions of the project are, and they also speak a little about the history of working together and how much this project means to them. This episode is a glimpse behind the scenes, and we hope the podcast in general will encourage a sense of community and conversation around the topics explored in the Tarka Journal.

If you like what you hear, please consider leaving us a review on your relevant podcast app and be sure to follow us on instagram @tarkajounal. 

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